Jan C. Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, speaks during the organization's wreath-laying ceremony at the Memorial in Washington, July 2009. The VVMF has announced plans to build a new Education Center adjacent to the Wall, which will focus on the individual soldiers who served in the Vietnam War. (DoD photo by William D. Moss)

"I think the power of all the names on the Wall robs the animosity of our differences."

WHEN JAN C. SCRUGGS left Vietnam in 1969, the once wounded infantryman figured he'd left the war and Vietnam behind. Ironically, he credits his wounds with his ability to attend college and ultimately get a master's degree. In the decade that followed, Scruggs had a dream, and from day one of the unveiling of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a nation long tormented by an unpopular war began a miraculous process of remembrance, healing and honoring those who served and died. Led by Scruggs, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund continues as The Wall's caretaker, but also runs a life-saving humanitarian program in Vietnam's Quang Tri province. Next up is an ambitious effort to build an underground education center next to The Wall, which will also exhibit some of the more than 100,000 items that have been left at the memorial. Vietnam editors recently interviewed Scruggs at the Memorial Fund's offices in Washington, D.C.

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Architecture that moves your emotions

Vietnam magazine: Thirty years ago, struggling to make your dream a reality, did you ever have doubts?

Scruggs: I thought there might be some delays, a year or two. But that was just the beginning of getting the team together that we needed. We had four or five graduates of Harvard Business School and with the support of John Warner, Max Cleland and others. The next thing you know, we get this bill through the House and the Senate, and then we have the largest architectural design competition in history. The surprise was not that we got it built. The big surprise was that it did not become a fraternal monument, like many military monuments where the only people interested in them are the actual participants. This has transcended just participants in the Vietnam War. You see them there, but by and large, most visitors are not Vietnam veterans.

Why is that, and why do people come back time and again?

You could ask the question, why is it that when people go to Paris, they go see the Eiffel Tower and then, once they have seen it, they want to back? What about the Pyramids in Egypt? Once you see them, why would you want to go back? The Wall is a great piece of architecture. Its legacy is different from the Eiffel Tower or the Pyramids, but they are similar in that they move your emotions or give your mind a feeling of serenity and a sense of history. Its just a beautiful piece of architecture that captures the spirits of those Americans who gave their lives—a place where you can feel their presence.

Could you have imagined that a Vietnam War memorial would become Washington's most visited memorial?

Initially, the thinking was that visitation would be high and then drop off. Today, half of those who visit are younger than the memorial itself—forget the war! From that, flowed the educational programs that we started, and now the Education Center that will be aimed at that group and younger kids, to teach them about the war.

What was the story behind your notion for the memorial?

All of this came from the work I did in graduate school in which I became an authority on post traumatic stress disorder. I published a number of articles and even testified before the Senate. So the theory behind this memorial was that the individuals—veterans, their families, people who had difficulties stemming from the war, which is everyone in their own way—would have a place to go to make peace with a tragic event from the past.

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